Centers and Institutes

The Bankruptcy Advocacy Clinic is a full-year clinic offered in partnership with Legal Services NYC (LS-NYC), the largest U.S. organization exclusively devoted to providing free civil legal services to low-income people. LS-NYC has neighborhood offices in every borough of New York City.

The Center for Bankruptcy Studies is home to all of the Law School's bankruptcy initiatives, including the nation's leading Bankruptcy LL.M. program, the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, the Bankruptcy Law Society, and the Bankruptcy Fellowship Program. The Center offers a wide range of programs for students, faculty, alumni, and practitioners throughout the year.

The St. John’s Center for International and Comparative Law (CICL) promotes the study of international and foreign legal systems as a means for addressing pressing global problems. The Center is a place where students, scholars and practicing lawyers come together to address how globalization affects the practice of law, and how the law can be deployed to address emerging global challenges. Through the broad range of curricular offerings, study abroad programs offered by the Office of Transnational Programs, experiential learning opportunities, and the participation of students in scholarly work, the Center helps prepare students for practice in a globalizing legal profession, using litigation, transactional, and regulatory advisory skills. 

The School of Law’s Center for Labor and Employment Law is a forum where students, practitioners and scholars come together to explore the practice and theory of labor and employment law. Central to the Center’s mission and offerings is the importance, and sanctity, of doing good work in the world. The Center strives to show students, by engagement and example, that they can be successful practitioners who also give back to their communities.

Understanding American law requires an understanding of the impact of race, established in 2022 under the leadership of St. John's Law Professor Renee Nicole Allen, the Center for Race and Law provides opportunities for students, academics, practitioners, and community members to examine race and engage in idea exchange about its intersection with the law through lectures, symposia, dialogue, and scholarship. It also promotes learning and broad engagement through social media and coordinates the Law School’s race and law resources and curriculum.

The Center for Trial and Appellate Advocacy is home to students, faculty, alumni, and friends interested in advocacy of all forms: civil and criminal; trial and appellate; federal, state, and global.  Current students can take advantage of our innovative curriculum, participate in our nationally-ranked trial advocacy and appellate advocacy co-curriculum programs, and network with our faculty and alumni.  Alumni and friends can benefit from our forthcoming CLE and advanced training programs.

The Child Advocacy Clinic (CAC) is part of the St. Vincent de Paul Legal Program.  It is  a 4-credit, one-semester, in-house clinical program available to students who have successfully completed their 1L year.  The Clinic handles a variety of legal matters relating to children including Family Court abuse, neglect, custody and guardianship cases; immigration removal proceedings and status applications; foster parent fair hearings, education and disability advocacy; international child abduction cases under the Hague Convention; and more.

The Consumer Justice for the Elderly: Litigation Clinic is part of the St. Vincent de Paul Legal program, Inc. It is an in-house, one-semester civil litigation and advocacy clinic.

The St. John’s Law School Criminal Defense Clinic (”CDC”) is a full-year partner clinic through which students explore the defense side of criminal practice.

The Denise ‘90 and Michael ‘91 Mattone Center for Law and Religion provides a forum for the study of law and religion from domestic, international, and comparative perspectives.

The Domestic Violence Litigation Clinic is a two semester clinic offered in partnership with the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), a not-for-profit organization providing free civil legal assistance to low and no-income individuals throughout the New York metropolitan area. 

The Economic Justice Legal Clinic is a full-year partner clinic offered in collaboration with the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), a nonprofit law office offering free, comprehensive legal services in civil law matters to low-income New Yorkers who otherwise cannot afford or access legal services.

The Hugh L. Carey Center educates aspiring lawyers and accomplished practitioners in the essential values and effective skills necessary to resolve clients’ legal problems in today’s practice of law.

The St. John's Intellectual Property Law Center is a forum for research, education, professional development and service addressing the legal and policy issues of the knowledge economy.  We focus on all the ways law and lawyers participate in shaping the information age, from intellectual property law to trade policy; from pharmaceuticals to publishing; from privacy rights to free expression principles; from Silicon Alley to Madison Avenue.

The Mattone Family Institute for Real Estate Law, St. John’s Law’s focal point for real estate law, is dedicated to preparing aspiring real estate attorneys for practice through exceptional academic programs and curriculum, unique career development opportunities, and extraordinary special events. In so doing, it builds upon St. John’s Law’s nearly century-old tradition of producing outstanding real estate lawyers.

Offered in partnership with the Bronx, Nassau, Queens, and Suffolk District Attorneys' Offices, the full-year Prosecution Clinic allows students to experience the criminal justice system at work – not just by observing, but by prosecuting real cases. Working under the supervision of assistant district attorneys, clinic students handle all aspects of criminal prosecutions, from arraignments to motion hearings and trials.

For over 10 years, the Public Interest Center at St. John's Law has been dedicated to fostering a commitment to service by supporting and expanding various initiatives in line with the University's Vincentian mission. The Center provides a range of opportunities for students to explore and engage in public interest law and pro bono work, underscoring the legal professional’s duty in promoting social justice and serving the public good.

The Refugee and Immigrant Rights Litigation Clinic is a full-year litigation clinic offered in partnership with the Immigration Legal Services Department of Catholic Charities in New York City. Under the supervision of senior attorneys, students represent immigrants – many refugees and asylees – in proceedings at the administrative level and the appeals level. Students also represent children who were victims of abuse or neglect in their home countries in both family and immigration court.

The mission of the Ron Brown Scholars Program is to select highly accomplished students who have overcome economic, social, or educational disadvantage, to support them during their years in law school and to nurture an interest in equality, civil rights, and social justice.

The Securities Arbitration Clinic is part of the St. Vincent de Paul Legal Program, Inc. It is a one-semester clinic staffed by second and third-year law students who help represent under-served investors in securities arbitration claims before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).  Typical claims involve misrepresentation, unsuitability, unauthorized trading, excessive trading (aka churning), and failure to supervise.

Tenants’ Rights Advocacy Clinic is a partnership between St. John’s Law School and The Legal Aid Society Queens Neighborhood Office (QNO), a non-profit organization, through which students will engage in the various stages of landlord-tenant litigation.

The Writing Center is a place where students collaborate. They work on writing skills and projects like exam essay writing, writing samples, and scholarly papers.